Redirection

dinsdag 9 juli 2013

The Advantages Of Being A Housewife

It's amazing, but true: what looks like a mainstream women's magazine published a positive article about housewives! I never thought I'd live as long as to see this:) The times they are a-changing...The article does overall a great job summing up the benefits of the traditional feminine role. I'd like to add my thoughts as well.

The first thing the article mentions is having more time: You don’t have to hurry through life...there is also more
time to do things around the house in a relaxed manner instead of being
under the scare of a chiding boss.

One of the reasons that so many marriages fail is constant stress which both husband and wife experience daily which leads to all sorts of domestic troubles. It used to be that women had a more peaceful life once the children became old enough to go to school and they could provide their husbands with a place to relax after a day of hard work. Now both husband and wife come home tired and start fighting about whose turn it is to make dinner. The article mentions it as well stating that housewives experience less fatigue:

The fatigue of work stress, fulfilling deadlines, commuting to and
fro and the guilt of giving work priority over family are factors that
working woman have to bear, unlike their stay at home counterparts.

The author mentions working from home as getting the best of both worlds. This is one point with which I somewhat disagree. Of course, if the family needs money, working from home is much better that getting a job outside it, but if there is no need, let your husband earn the living. I am speaking from the personal experience as someone who used to work from home for a paycheck. There was little time for anything else but work.

The next point the article makes is having more freedom: When you are a housewife, you are your own boss. It is a simple truth, yet feminists keep telling us even now that spending time in the office is liberation, while the women who choose to stay home are slaves of their husbands chained to the kitchen sink. Three cheers for the common sense!

Housewives have also more time to learn new skills and pursue their hobbies, says the article.

It gets difficult and is next to impossible for women who are working as
well as managing a family to remove time to acquire new skills or hone
existing ones

This, again, is simple common sense. There are but so many hours in a day, and nobody can have it all. The idea of quality vs quantity time is a bogus. Most people come home from work exhausted, especially as they are getting older and the most they are capable of is watching TV, not learning how to make sourdough bread.

Finally, the article mentions being able to watch your children grow:Housewives are always there with their children and manage to nurture
them in a loving manner.
Unlike many similar articles, this one doesn't make an accent on staying home for the sake of children, in fact, they are mentioned last. All the other 5 reasons can equally apply to all women, also those who are childless or whose children are grown.

It also says that being a housewife in a world where so many women have
to work, is a privilege, something which women should enjoy, and I
heartily agree. I hope that articles like this one will encourage more women to stay home and that this moronic housewife bashing will finally go the way of the dinosaur. After all, it's so 1970s...

It's somewhat different for a freelancer, but it is still stressful. I spent the big part of the last year writing and editing my book and it nearly cost me a nervous breakdown. In fact, my household is only now coming back to normal. Also, you are welcome! I always follow your blog though I seldom comment.

I too worked from home for awhile and it was brutal. I couldn't stop working because it was always in my face. I also worked outside the home and I can attest that I was so cranky and mean to my husband about dinner, chores etc. My children are grown and married now and I stay home & let hubby deal with the pressure of it all.:) Thanks for the article.Becky